Written Answers Wednesday 9 September 2009

Scottish Executive

Audiology

Tom McCabe (Hamilton South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it monitors the performance of the £3 million contract awarded to Queen Margaret University in 2005 under the auspices of the Audiology Modernisation Programme to deliver the graduate diploma in audiology course, the BSc honours degree in audiology and the continuing professional development courses for existing audiologists.

Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-11923 on 29 April 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx .

Audiology

Tom McCabe (Hamilton South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with NHS Education for Scotland in relation to the successful delivery of the BSc honours degree in audiology, the graduate diploma in audiology and the continuing professional development courses for existing audiologists at Queen Margaret University.

Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-11924 on 29 April 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx .

Audiology

Tom McCabe (Hamilton South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many students have entered the graduate diploma in audiology course at Queen Margaret University since the course began in 2005.

Nicola Sturgeon: Since September 2005, 49 students have entered the Graduate Diploma in Audiology at Queen Margaret University.

Audiology

Tom McCabe (Hamilton South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many students have entered the BSc honours degree in audiology course at Queen Margaret University since 2005.

Fiona Hyslop: Sixty-five students have entered the BSc honours degree in audiology course at Queen Margaret University since 2005.

  Source: NHS Education for Scotland (NES).

Audiology

Tom McCabe (Hamilton South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many audiologists have undertaken continuing professional development courses at Queen Margaret University since 2005.

Nicola Sturgeon: We estimate that approximately 100 audiologists have taken Continuing Professional Development courses at Queen Margaret University since 2005.

Audiology

Tom McCabe (Hamilton South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many graduates of Queen Margaret University’s graduate diploma in audiology course have entered employment as audiologists with the NHS in Scotland.

Nicola Sturgeon: We estimate that approximately 18 students from the graduate diploma have entered the NHS in Scotland.

Audiology

Tom McCabe (Hamilton South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many qualified audiologists it estimates will be available to the NHS in Scotland by 2012 via the graduate diploma in audiology course delivered by Queen Margaret University.

Nicola Sturgeon: Queen Margaret University estimate that approximately 43 graduate diploma students will take up employment with the NHS by 2012.

Audiology

Tom McCabe (Hamilton South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many qualified audiologists it estimates will be available to the NHS in Scotland by 2012 via the BSc honours in audiology course delivered by Queen Margaret University.

Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-11930 on 29 April 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx .

Cancer

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to increase the number of women between 50 and 70 attending breast screening.

Nicola Sturgeon: All women aged between 50 and 70 are invited for breast screening. From 2005 to 2008, 76.2% of women invited attended for screening. The service is made as accessible as possible by including the use of mobile screening vans in local locations and targeting deprived areas. The Scottish Breast Screening Service works closely with NHS boards to improve uptake in their areas.

Crown Estate

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it was involved in the selection and appointment process for the newly appointed Scottish Commissioner of the Crown Estate and, if so, what involvement it had.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government was not involved in the selection and appointment of the Scottish Commissioner of the Crown Estate. The Crown Estate and appointments to it are a reserved matter.

Domestic Abuse

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Domestic Abuse Accommodation and Support Provision Action Plan Implementation Group has compiled a list of refuges.

Alex Neil: The Domestic Abuse Accommodation and Support Provision Action Plan Implementation Group uses the list of refuges compiled by Scottish Women’s Aid which includes both affiliated and unaffiliated Women’s Aid organisations.

Epilepsy

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what training is given to police officers regarding the management of individuals with epilepsy, particularly in post-seizure states, when an offence appears to have been committed.

Kenny MacAskill: At present, epilepsy awareness training is delivered and managed by individual forces. Discussions are due to take place next month between Strathclyde Police and the Chief Executive of Epilepsy Scotland to discuss the provision of training across the emergency services. The Chief Executive of Epilepsy Scotland will also meet next month with representatives from the Scottish Police College to discuss probationer training.

Epilepsy

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people diagnosed with epilepsy have died in police custody in the last 10 years.

Kenny MacAskill: The information requested is not held centrally. The responsibility for maintaining such records lies with individual Scottish Police Forces.

Epilepsy

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners with a diagnosis of epilepsy have been transferred to hospital from police custody in the last 10 years.

Kenny MacAskill: The information requested is not held centrally. The responsibility for maintaining such records lies with individual Scottish Police Forces.

Fertility Treatment

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-25940 by Nicola Sturgeon on 17 August 2009, which NHS boards have invested in the Infertility Network Scotland service and consequently reduced their waiting times for IVF treatment.

Shona Robison: All NHS boards in Scotland routinely refer patients for IVF treatment, therefore all NHS boards invest in this service.

  NHS Borders, NHS Dumfries and Galloway and NHS Lanarkshire have all invested further in this service to reduce waiting times.

Fertility Treatment

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-25940 by Nicola Sturgeon on 17 August 2009, what work is being undertaken by Infertility Network Scotland and when this is likely to be implemented.

Shona Robison: Infertility Network Scotland will work with NHS boards over the next three years to help ensure fairer access to treatment and to offer patients a direct influence on the future direction of infertility care.

Fertility Treatment

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-25945 by Nicola Sturgeon on 17 August 2009, whether the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing supports patients being able to choose to have IVF treatment where waiting times are shorter, particularly if they are near the upper age limit.

Shona Robison: Disparity in the length of waiting times for IVF across NHS boards in Scotland is due, in part, to differences in criteria and funding being applied across NHS boards which is a long standing problem.

  We are funding Infertility Network Scotland to work with NHS boards to fully implement infertility guidance and ensure patients voices are heard in the future provision of this service. In addition, an Expert Group on Infertility Services will shortly be set up and the group will consider how best to ensure equity of access across Scotland.

Finance

John Lamont (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much public expenditure there has been in each Scottish parliamentary constituency since 1999.

John Swinney: This information is not held centrally. Scottish Government expenditure is collated by spending programme (i.e. type of spend) and not by geographical area. Local government expenditure is available by council area and health board expenditure is available by health board area, neither can be disaggregated by parliamentary constituency.

Football

Iain Gray (East Lothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the funding it has provided for youth football in each of the last three years.

The Executive have supplied the following corrected answer:

Shona Robison: The information requested can be found in the following table.

  

2008-09
£4.099 million1


2007-08
£1.451 million


2006-07
£2.137 million



  Note: 1. In 2008-09 this includes £880,925 which was provided to the SFA through the Cashback for Communities (proceeds of crime) programme to provide footballing opportunities for young people.

Genetically Modified Crops

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that EU assistance should be provided for the use of genetically modified organisms as energy crops.

Roseanna Cunningham: No. The Scottish Government does not support the cultivation of genetically modified crops in Scotland. In addition, the recent Health Check of the Common Agricultural Policy abolished the Energy Crop Scheme (ECS) since the rapid growth in the bio-energy market means that there is no longer sufficient reason to continue to grant specific support for energy crops.

  However, various forms of support are available, for example under the Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP), to encourage the development of new farming ventures which could include renewable energy initiatives.

Health

Margo MacDonald (Lothians) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-22499 by Shona Robison on 31 March 2009, what progress has been made in developing a policy on exercise on prescription.

Shona Robison: Further to my earlier response on the 31 March the guidance Energising Lives that was published as part of phase one has been disseminated to all GP surgeries and featured in professional journals, this will be supported by workshops for trainers later this year.

  In addition work is on-going to develop a means to easily measure physical activity in a primary care setting and the production of an exercise toolkit which will contain guidance for referring health professionals, exercise referral professionals and exercise scheme commissioners which will be published and disseminated in November 2009. This is being developed in partnership with the British Heart Foundation National Centre for Physical Activity and Health and the other UK administrations.

  Development work has also commenced on guidance for primary care professionals to enable them to identify those patients who would most benefit from exercise referral, before or alongside other interventions.

Higher Education

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the UHI Millennium Institute management regarding the Institute’s progress towards achieving university status.

Fiona Hyslop: Ministers and officials have had a number of discussions with the UHI Millennium Institute management regarding UHI’s progress towards achieving university status. The most recent of these was during a meeting with the Director of Lifelong Learning in Inverness in May 2009. Officials are continuing to work closely with UHI, Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, the Scottish Funding Council and Highlands and Islands Enterprise in respect of UHI moving towards title.

Housing

John Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-25911 by Alex Neil on 3 August 2009, how local authorities are monitored to ensure that they adhere to their public sector equality duties on disability, race and gender, which require public authorities to involve, consult and engage with communities as widely as possible.

Alex Neil: The Equality and Human Rights Commission is responsible for the enforcement of the public sector equality duties. Both the Scottish Government and councils are subject to the same public sector equality duties and we do expect all public bodies to take their responsibilities under these duties seriously.

Housing

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to support the funding of affordable housing in North Ayrshire.

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will support North Ayrshire Council in achieving the goal of improving the availability of affordable housing as set out in its single outcome agreement.

Alex Neil: The Scottish Government is supporting the single outcome agreement through the provision of affordable housing in North Ayrshire. In 2009-10 funding of £7.681 million will be provided for a range of development projects in North Ayrshire. This investment will increase the supply of new affordable housing in pressured areas such as Arran. An on-going programme of regeneration projects is also being supported in North Ayrshire. North Ayrshire Council have also been awarded a grant of £0.575 million to build 23 council houses in Irvine through the Scottish Government’s council house building initiative.

  In addition to its direct funding role the Scottish Government is also engaging closely with North Ayrshire Council in its strategic role of identifying local housing needs and setting local housing priorities.

Housing

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what alternative sources of private finance it has considered with regard to the funding of affordable housing in North Ayrshire.

Alex Neil: The raising of private finance is the responsibility of the registered social landlord managing the project. Whilst no alternatives for sources of private finance specifically in North Ayrshire have been considered for affordable housing the Scottish Government is seeking to maximise private finance contributions through individual projects by adjustments to the allowance system in the appraisal of these projects.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many houses built by housing associations in 2008-09 were for low-cost home ownership.

Alex Neil: There were 680 houses for low-cost home ownership completed by housing associations in 2008-09. This figure has been published by the Scottish Government and can be found in the latest Housing Statistics for Scotland Publication which was released on 27 August 2009.

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many houses built by local authorities in 2008-09 were for low-cost home ownership.

Alex Neil: There were 336 houses completed by local authorities in 2008-09 – however, the number that were for low-cost home ownership is not held centrally. The latest figures on local authority house building have been published by the Scottish Government and can be found in the Housing Statistics for Scotland Publication which was released on 27 August 2009.

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS.

Housing

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made on introducing a tenancy deposit scheme.

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce the outcome of the working group on safeguarding tenancy deposits.

Alex Neil: A stakeholder working group which was established to examine the various approaches to improving tenancy deposit practice, met again on 1 September to consider the options and costs for using some form of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to resolve tenancy deposit disputes, and how this might relate to a scheme for safeguarding deposits.

  I am now considering the outcome of the meeting. I will write to the member once I have made a decision on the most appropriate way forward on this issue and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) (Bib. number 49091).

Justice

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance is available to the Scottish Legal Aid Board to ensure that individuals with a diagnosis of epilepsy have access to appropriate expert medical evidence that is made available to the Procurator Fiscal, particularly in cases where post-ictal states or complex partial seizures may have contributed to an alleged offence.

Kenny MacAskill: The responsibility for representing an accused individual’s interests rests with their instructed solicitor and, where appropriate, counsel.

  The Crown has an obligation to ensure that all information that is considered material to the prosecution of a case being presented in court is disclosed to the defence agent. Where information is deemed by the Crown not to be material to the case and is withheld from disclosure, the defence agent may make an application to the court to order the Crown to disclose the information.

  Should any part of the accused’s defence require investigation of an underlying medical condition, the legal aid scheme provides for the procurement by their solicitor of a report from a suitably qualified medical expert. In deciding whether a request for payment for such a report can be granted, the Scottish Legal Aid Board must be satisfied that obtaining the report will be of material assistance to the defence case, or will materially undermine the Crown case.

Marches

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many marches and parades were held in 2008, broken down by local authority area.

Kenny MacAskill: The most recent figures held centrally cover the period April 2007 to March 2008 and are contained in Annex 2 of the Consultation into Marches and Parades: Analysis of Consultation Responses , which was published in February 2009. This document is available at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/262130/0078372.pdf.

Police

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what topics the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing discussed with the Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police at their meeting on 21 July 2009.

Nicola Sturgeon: When I met with the Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police on 21 July 2009 we discussed progress on increasing the number of police officers in the Strathclyde police area; alcohol-related crime, and the change in the pattern of violent crime. There are increasing levels of violence indoors and less in public places, although serious violence as a whole is going down.

Prison Service

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that a multi-agency risk management plan is in place when prisoners who present a high risk of serious harm are on home leave or an extended work placement.

Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

  The SPS recognises the importance of robust risk assessment and risk management of offenders, particularly when they are being considered for community access in preparation for release.

  Integrated Case Management is the multiagency process used to assess and manage offenders whilst in custody. All prisoners who are subject to statutory supervision will be discussed at an annual case conference with the involvement of both community and prison based social work partners. Those cases assessed as high risk will have further scrutiny as part of establishment risk management groups with senior management and psychology input.

  Prisoners being considered for community access are risk assessed and a community risk management plan is prepared. Suitability is determined by a multi-disciplinary group from a variety of agencies taking account of a wide range of prison and community generated case management information.

Prison Service

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that the Scottish Prison Service develops a strategy for more effective engagement of those prisoners who refuse to participate in a change programme.

Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

  The SPS applies a number of strategies to motivate suitable prisoners to attend offending behaviour programmes. The SPS operates an Integrated Case Management (ICM) process designed in such a way as to encourage participation and ownership from the prisoner. This integrated system includes referral to "change" programmes and is generally successful in motivating participation.

  The SPS constantly looks to improve what it does and it is currently in the process of reviewing its suite of sex offender programmes. Prisoner resistance to participation is higher for sex offender programmes that for other "change" programmes. The SPS is developing an amended programme that will encourage resistant offenders to participate in such programmes. This new programme will contain a preparatory motivational component.

Prison Service

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners in Scottish Prison Service prisons and HMP Kilmarnock are terminally ill.

Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

  There are currently three prisoners in custody at this time considered to be terminally ill.

  This figure does not include prisoners known to be HIV+ or Hepatitis C+ or with other life threatening conditions, as their conditions are not currently regarded as immediately life threatening.

Prison Service

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive for how many prisoners in Scottish Prison Service prisons and HMP Kilmarnock applications for release on compassionate grounds are under consideration.

Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

  There are currently no applications for release on compassionate grounds under consideration in any Scottish prisons, including Kilmarnock and Addiewell. However, three sites are actively considering whether applications should be initiated.

Prison Service

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners in Scottish Prison Service prisons and HMP Kilmarnock have applied for prisoner transfer.

Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

  Prisoners routinely make requests for prison transfer as a consequence the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Regeneration

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-26061 by Alex Neil on 3 August 2009, what steps are being taken to monitor any improvement in consultation by community planning partnerships.

Alex Neil: A majority of local authorities and their community planning partnerships (CPPs) set out plans for strategic deployment of the Fairer Scotland Fund (FSF) in Single Outcome Agreements (SOAs) for 2008-09. A smaller number of CPPs presented stand alone FSF plans for one year only. As requested in FSF guidance, all of these high level plans included information on the intended means of engaging communities in planning strategic investment of the fund.

  By the end of September 2009, the first SOA annual reports and stand alone FSF reports, covering 2008-09, will be shared with the Scottish Government. Information contained in these reports should demonstrate how local authorities and community planning partnerships have involved communities of place and interest in strategic investment of the FSF.

  The Scottish Centre for Regeneration will use this information to inform dialogue between community planning partnerships on sharing effective practice, as part of the facilitated Learning Network for Community Regeneration and Tackling Poverty.

Sport

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what artificial turf football pitches received funding from sportscotland in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09 and what type of surface each pitch has.

Shona Robison: The information requested on funding provided by sportscotland for artificial pitches is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The member may wish to contact sportscotland for this detailed operational information.

Student Finance

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what changes have been made to the eligibility criteria for student bursaries and loans from the Students Awards Agency for Scotland and when these changes were made.

Fiona Hyslop: The changes which have been made to the eligibility criteria for student bursaries and loans since May 2007 can be found at the following link.

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/Funding-Support-Grants/FFL/PMB/Completed.

Swimming Pools

Nicol Stephen (Aberdeen South) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the dimensions of an Olympic-sized swimming pool are and how many pools of this standard there are or are planned in Scotland.

Shona Robison: Scottish Swimming have confirmed that an Olympic sized swimming pool is 50m in length whereas an Olympic standard swimming pool is 50m in length but must have 10 lanes, as set by the Fédération Internationale de Natation.

  In Scotland, excluding the outdoor pool at Stonehaven, there is an Olympic standard pool at Tollcross in Glasgow with a further three Olympic sized swimming pools at the National Swimming Academy in Stirling, the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh and at the Dollan Aqua Centre in East Kilbride. There are plans to develop a further two Olympic sized pools in Aberdeen and Dundee.

Vaccinations

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to research the characteristics of and possible reasons for people not taking up the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination.

Shona Robison: Final uptake statistics for the first year of the HPV vaccination programme will be published at the end of September and it is not possible to pre-empt what these will say. However, the provisional uptake statistics published in March showed that initial uptake amongst girls in school was very good and anecdotally we understand that this has continued to be the case. The September publication will also provide the first statistics available on the uptake of the vaccine by girls in the catch-up cohort who are no longer in school.

  Analysis of the HPV vaccination uptake figures has always been part of the planned public health monitoring and evaluation of the HPV immunisation programme. Where statistics indicate a significant problem in uptake of the vaccination we will look into that in more detail to understand what the reasons may be. This kind of analysis is routinely carried out for other childhood immunisation programmes in Scotland as part of public health monitoring activities.

Voluntary Sector

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the overall aim is of its resilience fund for the third sector.

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria must be met in order to receive assistance from the resilience fund for the third sector.

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much money will be available in the resilience fund for the third sector.

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the resilience fund for the third sector will fund core frontline services.

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will avoid the resilience fund for the third sector displacing the loss of public sector funding.

Jim Mather: A roundtable discussion took place on the 14 April 2009 in St Andrews House, where ministers discussed with third sector leaders how the sector is responding to the downturn, its longer term resilience, and how to ensure the maximum alignment between government, the third sector, local authorities and other public bodies, in both weathering the downturn and making the most of the emerging opportunities.

  Scottish ministers considered carefully the issues emerging from the roundtable discussion, and have agreed a set of actions to take forward the key issues. (The agreed set of actions can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/15300/ProposedActions).

  The Scottish Government is currently developing with it’s third sector partners a Resilience Fund for third sector organisations providing front line services that have been affected by the recession, through either seeing an increased demand for their services or experiencing cash flow difficulties.

  Funding of £1.6 million to £1.7 million will be available and it is intended would be targeted at third sector organisations who can clearly demonstrate, and describe, how a shock caused by the recession has led to increased demand or significantly undermined their services.

  An announcement about the parameters for the fund will be made soon.